Blinded

Most of my family is flying out from California to spend Thanksgiving with us. My parents and aunt & uncle arrive tomorrow night, and my sister gets in Tuesday night. I think they are just as excited to see the house as we are to see them -- I haven't seen my parents since Christmas, and it's been even longer since I've seen my mom's sister and her husband.

Since we will have a full house for several days, we thought it was about time we got some proper window blinds so they'd have some privacy. We went to Next Day Blinds a couple weeks ago and ordered blinds and shades for several rooms in the house. (The name is a bit of a misnomer, since it actually took about 2 weeks, but I think if you order online, they claim to ship them the next day.) Someone came out to measure the windows later that week, and then a different guy showed up Friday morning to install them. He was peeved to discover that some of the measurements were off (3 blinds were an inch too short) and one of the roller shades didn't work, but he installed everything and said they'd have someone replace them on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). He also told me I didn't have to pay our remaining balance until everything was right. So, what they lack in precision, they make up for in customer service. Here are our new blinds/shades...

We used to have white matchstick blinds in the living room, but the original ones don't fit on the new windows, and NDB doesn't make them in white anymore. We got them in 'mahogany' instead, which perfectly matches the window stain.
I also used to have white wood blinds in my office, but once again the old ones didn't fit on the new windows. The new blinds ended up being an inch too short, but they'll certainly keep the afternoon sun out of my face until the replacement ones are installed. They had several shades of white to choose from, so we were able to perfectly match them to the trim around the windows.

If anyone ever buys that monstrous McMansion two doors down, we'll definitely need to keep the little windows in the master bedroom covered. These white roller shades should do the trick.We got cream-colored roller shades for Josh's office, which are a pretty good match for the paint color in the hallway. We also scored a free twin bed from a neighbor who was moving, so we'll set it up in here so my sister will have a proper bed (and bedroom) to sleep in.
We ordered honeycomb shades for the upstairs guest room, since it has sort of an Asian theme. They don't block much light, but they provide much-needed privacy, since it's on the front of the house.
We're enjoying the last of the fall colors here. Well, I was probably enjoying them more than Josh, since he was outside raking leaves.
And while this has nothing to do with the house, I have to mention that I watched the Big Game last night, and was pleased to see Cal defeat Stanford 34-28. Go Bears!

Safe travels, everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving!

CoTY Awards!

Exciting news! I got this email from Steve B at SAI (our builders) yesterday:

I’m really pleased to tell you that, thanks to the hard work on the applications by Susan and Barb from ESG, the beautiful design by Marta and her team at EnviroHome Design, and the craftsmanship of the SAI construction team, we will be receiving two NARI Capital CotY awards on Naina & Josh’s house on North Hancock: Entire House AND Green Remodeling Entire House! We received the letter today notifying us about the awards, and inviting us to the Capital CotY Celebration on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at the Bethesda North Marriott. Of course, we’ll have to wait until then to learn whether we’ve won Honorable Mention, 2nd or 1st Prize for each, but whatever the outcome, we should all be very proud.

Thank you all for everything you did to make this possible. And I’d especially like to thank you, Naina and Josh, for giving us the opportunity to serve you in making your dream a reality.

It's going to be tough to wait until the end of January to find out how we fared in each category, but it's still a thrill to know that our house was a finalist in both -- especially since those are the only two categories they entered. I don't know if Josh and I will actually be able to attend the awards ceremony, but I'll keep you posted. It sounds like the Oscars of home renovation...

In the meantime, a big CONGRATULATIONS to everyone involved!

Best. Baby. Photos. Ever.

When Rob was over earlier today, he promised to send me some new photos of his son, who was born Sept 15. When these arrived in my inbox, I just had to ask if I could post them to my blog. Not only is this kid absolutely adorable, but these are some of the most awesome baby photos I've ever seen. I can't decide which one I like better -- the one where he's sticking out his tongue...
...or the one where he and the dog are both looking completely miserable in their matching lobster costumes. Who knew they made lobster Halloween costumes for babies? Or dogs?

House Numbers

Rob came by this morning to take some photos of our exterior stucco for a new project SAI is working on where the homeowners also want to do stucco. While he was here, he also installed our new house numbers for us. We already have those lovely handmade tiles that Amalio bought for us in Mexico -- and that Josh made a beautiful frame for and hung by the front door -- but they are not easy to see from the street. Most police and fire departments recommend that you have house numbers that are easily visible from the street in case they need to locate your home in an emergency. So, I ordered these cool numbers from Restoration Hardware. It was a cold, rainy day, but Rob and I braved the elements to figure out where to put the numbers. Note that instead of a ladder, Rob is standing on his trusty hand-made toolbox. (Also note that if I were standing on that toolbox, I'd barely be able to reach the top of the arch.)
Rob tried holding them up so I could see how they'd look, but, sadly, he only has two hands.
Here's the final result. I'm pretty sure the numbers are perfectly centered, but because the front door is not centered on the arch, it creates the illusion that they are a little off. If we change our minds, we can always move them, but I think they'll be fine as is.
It was fun to have a chance to catch up with Rob. We ended up becoming pretty good friends over the past 9 months, and he said he really felt that the great relationship he -- and John -- had with Josh and me was reflected in our house. Warm fuzzies all around!

Toolbox Winner

Congratulations to John Pali for winning the toolbox contest at our open house a few weeks ago. John, Rob, Dane, and Steve W each made a toolbox out of construction scraps, and visitors to the open house were asked to vote for their favorite one. Here is the winner. Nice work, John!
And, of course, a virtual round of applause to all the contestants for their impressive entries. Especially Rob's, which could double as a composting toilet. (hee hee!)

Black Monday

I'm working from home two days/week now, which is a vast improvement over commuting to Silver Spring every day, but not nearly as nice as working from home full-time. I was home on Monday morning when I got a call from Kevin, the person my boss, Stephanie, reports to. He was calling to let me know that Discovery had undergone yet another re-organization, and that Stephanie's position had been eliminated. She had been notified that morning that it would be her last day. How awful! She had only been my boss for a month and a half, but she was a good one. I was bummed that I wasn't able to say goodbye in person, but at least I got to talk to her on the phone later that day.

Kevin told me that I would now be reporting directly to him -- which makes him my 5th boss in seven years. Fortunately, he's a very nice guy and I'm sure he'll be easy to work with.

When I went in on Tuesday, I learned that at least a dozen other people I know had also been let go, including a few people I've worked with for years. I've lost count of how many rounds of layoffs I've been through, but I can assure you it doesn't get any easier. My heart goes out to everyone who was let go, and I hope they all land on their feet. Those of us who were fortunate enough to keep our jobs are expected to continue as if nothing has changed, but I had two meetings and a lunch date on Wednesday that were canceled because they were with people who had been laid off. It's not that easy...

Ironically, Discovery was just named one of the Top 10 Places to Work in Cable last week...

In other news, we had a Wellness Fair at work yesterday, which included a cooking demonstration by Nathan Lyon of the Discovery Health Channel's A Lyon in the Kitchen. I've never actually watched the show, but in person, at least, he is a very engaging and entertaining speaker. He also provided generous samples of the Tuscan Vegetable Soup and Peach Blueberry Cobbler that he made in the demo, so I got a very tasty lunch out of it, along with the recipes. I also chatted with the doctor at Discovery's in-house Wellness Center about our renovation. I went in for a physical last week and it came up in conversation. She was planning her own renovation project and was interested to see what we had done, so I had given her the address for this blog. I did warn her that some of it was a bit silly, since at the time the very first photo was the one of Josh pretending to poop in Rob's toolbox. I cringed a bit when she said she had read my blog, but fortunately it sounded like she focused more on the photos of the house.

Steve W stopped by this morning to borrow the key for Ann & Matt's house -- which is 2 blocks away -- so he could winterize the pipes and turn down the heat. They have a ways to go before they'll be ready to start demolition/construction, and if they want to reuse or donate any of the materials in the existing house, it needs some basic maintenance to keep it in decent condition.

Cerphe came by this afternoon to return our house binder, accordion file, and plans that Susan (his wife) had borrowed for the awards submission last week. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be on a first-name basis with my favorite local DJ, I would not have believed you. Funny what life throws at you...

Trick or Treat?

Can you believe it's November already? Where did the year go?

This past week was a busy one for us -- which made it much the same as most of the previous weeks... After the open house last weekend, we had a bunch of friends over for dinner Sunday night, our friend Matt staying with us Sunday through Tuesday, and Josh's brother Ben visiting Tuesday through Friday. That was our tightest turnover between guests so far!

Our builders and architect are submitting our house for a Contractor of the Year award through the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). The deadline was Thursday afternoon, and Susan stopped by Monday night to borrow the house binder and accordion file full of info about our house that Rob had put together for us, along with our architectural plans and a CD of photos I took that showed all the 'green' features of the house. They must have needed to provide a lot of detailed information about the house. I spoke to Susan on Friday morning, and it sounded like they got right down to the wire in meeting the submission deadline, but she was very pleased with how their entries turned out. I don't think we'll find out until January if we are a finalist, and then you have to attend the awards ceremony to learn whether you actually won. I guess it's kind of like the Oscars of home remodeling. I'll keep you posted...

In other news, yesterday was Halloween. It was unseasonably warm here (70) but also a bit windy and drizzly. The threat of rain didn't stop Josh from wanting to test out his new (used) sailboat, which he bought last weekend. (Yes, he went to Annapolis on the first day of the open house and came back in the afternoon with a boat strapped to the roof of the car. I didn't get much sympathy from the SAI crew...) It's just a small, 2-person sailboat, unlike the 35-foot Dragon Lady that we once owned -- Josh inherited it from his grandfather -- and which I'm convinced was cursed. But don't get me started on that story...

Anyway, Josh's dad and his friend Aron came over yesterday and they strapped the boat and Josh's windsurfer onto the cars and headed down to Pohick Bay on the Potomac.
I stayed home and took care of a bunch of stuff around the house (laundry, houseplants, bills, leftover pizza) and put up our Halloween decorations. Normally I would have done that the weekend before, but since we had the open house, I thought that might look a little cheesy. (Although I did ask Steve W if he could send someone over to help us inflate all our Halloween lawn decorations before the open house. He got a good laugh out of that.) Actually, our Halloween decorations are pretty tame. We have orange lights around the porch railing, jack-o-lantern lights on the stair railing, and a spooky black light up by the balcony. I was going to make a ghost to put out there, but since it was rainy and windy, I decided against it. Maybe next year.
Josh and his dad and Aron returned just before dark. Apparently all three of them sailed around in the boat, which nearly caused it to sink, but it sounds like they had a good time. Here's Josh looking spooky (and eating Halloween candy) on the front porch.The first wave of little trick-or-treaters arrived before I had even lit the candles in the luminarias. I guess they wanted to get an early start in case it rained later. We handed out candy until about 8pm, and then put a "Gone Hauntin'" sign on the door and went for a quick walk. Halloween is a big deal in our neighborhood, and many houses along the main drag had spooky music, fog machines, dramatic lighting, and creepy decorations that covered their whole yard and/or house. It's quite a spectacle! So many kids come trick-or-treating here that most people just sit on the front porch with a bowl of candy and a glass of wine so they don't have to keep running to the door every 2 minutes.

After checking out the Halloween scene, we went over to a neighbors' house a few doors down. Jeremy and Alison had invited us over for pie and drinks, so we hung out with them while the last wave of kids came through. Just when we thought all the trick-or-treaters would have called it a night, we saw someone coming up the front walk. It turned out to be a large German Shepherd. A moment later we saw a uniformed police officer. He glanced in the door, and then walked toward the house next door. Jeremy went out to the front porch to see what was going on, and the officer told him to stay in the house. He was a little shaken up when he came back inside, as he had just seen another police officer with a gun and a flashlight coming down the street. Alison quickly made sure all the doors and windows were locked, and we peered through the front window to see what was going on. We saw the police and the dog walking around the vacant McMansion and then head up towards the other end of the block -- and our house. Josh and I started getting very nervous, so we waited until we saw a police car drive off and then headed home.

As soon as we got out the door, we encountered another policeman armed with a rifle. We asked him what was going on, and he said someone had reported seeing a man with a gun trying to break into a vehicle. They had searched the area, but didn't find anyone, and he said it was safe for us to go home. I got the impression that he suspected it was either a Halloween prank, or a case of someone's costume giving an observer the wrong idea. In any case, we were still a little freaked out, so we turned on all the lights in the house and made sure the doors were locked. I am happy to report that we survived Halloween, despite the unexpected scare.